Emma's Reviews > The Fireman
The Fireman
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Joe Hill, what have you gone and done?! I have been waiting a long time for your new book to be published and then you went and made it so good that I couldn't put it down and now I've finished it! That was quite a trip.
Joe Hill has total mastery of this story. His writing is witty and his cultural referencing is spot on. There are many references to Harry Potter (he must be a child of the generation who grew up reading those volumes) and to his dad's works, John Grisham and of course Mary Poppins.
'Just because you've read John Grisham, it doesn't make you a Supreme Court Justice'.
Hill has created a cast of flawed and fascinating individuals and managed to come up with a main character, Harper, who was perfectly balanced : while often compared to and quoting Mary Poppins and Julie Andrews, she still managed to avoid being a Mary Poppins character.
And as a study of people and the psychology of human kind, we see the Lord of the Flies-esque take on how we behave under peer group pressure and how we thrive on approval, whatever the cost. 'Law is whoever is holding the nightstick' some one observes at one point.
Hill has a great way of ending most chapters that leads you right on to the next one and the next. until you end up finishing it too soon and having a long old wait for the next book by this author. Which is where I came in with this review and a good place to finish!
Joe Hill has total mastery of this story. His writing is witty and his cultural referencing is spot on. There are many references to Harry Potter (he must be a child of the generation who grew up reading those volumes) and to his dad's works, John Grisham and of course Mary Poppins.
'Just because you've read John Grisham, it doesn't make you a Supreme Court Justice'.
Hill has created a cast of flawed and fascinating individuals and managed to come up with a main character, Harper, who was perfectly balanced : while often compared to and quoting Mary Poppins and Julie Andrews, she still managed to avoid being a Mary Poppins character.
And as a study of people and the psychology of human kind, we see the Lord of the Flies-esque take on how we behave under peer group pressure and how we thrive on approval, whatever the cost. 'Law is whoever is holding the nightstick' some one observes at one point.
Hill has a great way of ending most chapters that leads you right on to the next one and the next. until you end up finishing it too soon and having a long old wait for the next book by this author. Which is where I came in with this review and a good place to finish!
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Reading Progress
May 19, 2016
– Shelved
May 19, 2016
–
2.0%
"She associated English accents with singing teapots, schools for witchcraft, and the science of deduction. This wasn’t, she knew, terribly sophisticated of her, but she had no real guilt about it. She felt the English were themselves to blame for her feelings. They had spent a century relentlessly marketing their detectives and wizards and nannies, and they had to live with the results."
May 20, 2016
–
Started Reading
May 20, 2016
–
22.0%
May 22, 2016
–
Finished Reading
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Will
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rated it 5 stars
May 22, 2016 06:25PM
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